10 Mind Blowing Facts You Never Knew About The Lord Of The Rings

Yes, you're reading that right. The world literally called Middle Earth does NOT in fact take place on the planet Earth. Now, you would think that would be obvious, since last anyone checked, there's no evidence of monsters, dragons, or dwarves ever existing in our world (for now at least, we tend to keep finding newer and more ominous coffins and artifacts underground so who knows what else is right under our noses?)

But as it turns out, Middle Earth is called such because it is apparently just the largest continent of land smack dab in the middle of the known world, which is actually called Arda. And, of course, hardcore Tolkien fans know about this, because it's all mentioned in the Silmarillion as well as other assorted Middle Earth books (but mostly the Silmarillion).

I was almost tempted to just make this entry "The Silmarillion throws everything you know for a loop" but that felt too broad. And besides, the fact that Middle Earth has actually NOTHING to do with our world is the most mind blowing fact about Lord Of The Rings all on its own, so I thought it best to zero in on that.

So in that case, if the humans in LOTR AREN'T the humanity that becomes modern man in our world, does that mean the Elves might be freaking out about them over nothing? Because that would be hilarious.